Portable electric or manual toothbrushes in the prior art are well known. They have been used throughout the years as oral hygiene instruments used to clean teeth and gums.
The first successful electric toothbrush was produced in 1939 in Switzerland by Dr. Philippe-Guy Wong. The electrical toothbrush was first marketed in the United States in 1959 by E. R. Squibb. The brush was called the Broxodent. General Electric introduced a rechargeable cordless toothbrush in 1961. Interplak was the first rotary action electrical toothbrush for home use, introduced in 1987.
Electric toothbrushes have gained in popularity over the years due to their inherent benefits. For example, electric toothbrushes move their bristles at a much faster rate than is possible by the human hand. As such, electric toothbrushes can provide a deeper cleaning in a shorter period of time as compared to traditional manual toothbrushes.
As another example, bristles from an electric toothbrush can easily be held against teeth and gums in hard-to-reach areas of the mouth. As such, additional bristle strokes can be applied to those hard-to-reach areas of the mouth without any additional effort on the part of the user. This again helps to provide deeper teeth cleanings each time a user brushes his or her teeth.
As yet another example, people with limited manual dexterity may find it difficult to manually brush their teeth. For these people, electric toothbrushes provide a much better and easier method of cleaning their teeth as compared to traditional toothbrushes.
Electronic toothbrushes come in many forms. Nevertheless, they can generally be described as including a head section and a body section. The head section includes a multiplicity of bristles, which is attached to an end of the body section. The body section can be held by the user when brushing his or her teeth. The body section also typically houses a motor powered by a rechargeable battery. The motor drives the actions of the bristles when the electronic toothbrush is in use.